Russellville traveled to Sheridan on Thursday night to face the Lady Yellowjackets in volleyball action, and the Lady Cyclones picked up the 3-1 win to improve to 4-4 on the season.

In the varsity game, Russellville won the first two games before sealing the victory in the fourth. The scores were 25-16, 25-23, 19-25, 25-9.

"We are still coming along. We are still making some mistakes, though," Lady Cyclone head coach Cindy Jones said. "As long as we continue to pass, we will be OK. We have the setters and hitters."

Megan Simpson had 14 kills for the Lady Cyclones, while teammate Autumn Stewart had 11 kills and 11 blocks.

Russellville will return to action Thursday as it opens conference play at home against the Cabot Lady Panthers.

Last weekend's action

The Lady Cyclones traveled to Pulaski County last Saturday to participate in the Little Rock Spike Fest.

Russellville went undefeated in pool play as it defeated Arkansas High 25-21, 25-18 in the first match of pool play. In the second match, the Lady Cyclones defeated Mayflower 25-10, 25-11. In the third match, Russellville defeated Little Rock Christian 25-12, 25-24.

The Lady Cyclones entered tournament play as the second seed and faced Benton. Although Russellville won the first game of the match, Benton won the next two games to win the match. The scores were 25-21, 24-26, 12-15.

Stewart had eight kills and seven blocks. Cody Brookhouser had seven kills, and Kristen Williams had six kills.

Atkins opens

season with win

The Lady Red Devils had so many players come out for volleyball season that coach Tracey Brown said the team would be split up into three different squads  ninth-grade, junior varsity and varsity teams. Atkins faced Booneville on Thursday, who was also new to volleyball, Brown said. The ninth-grade team lost its match, while JV and varsity both won their matches.

The varsity lost its first game to Booneville 23-25. Brown said the team did not serve well but picked it up in the second game winning handily 25-4.

"The first game, I think we got nervous," Brown said. "The second game we got in a groove, and the team really worked well together as a unit."

The Lady Devils won the next two games 25-13 and 25-15 to take the match. Jordan Harris had eight kills to lead the way for Atkins. Caci McCurrie had an ace, a kill and two assists. Andrea Haney had two aces, three kills and an assist. Chelsey Alexander had eight aces, four kills and seven assists. Marlee Shannon also had eight aces with two kills and an assist. Tillman of the JV squad helped out on serves for varsity with two aces.

"Booneville is a young team, so it's hard to judge where we're at right now at this point in the season," Brown said. "I do think we will hold our own in conference though, much better than last year."

The ninth-grade team lost its match, dropping Game 1 16-25 and Game 2 13-25. Abby Duvall and Adrian Francis had two aces each, and Courtney Womack added an ace for the Lady Red Devils.

Junior varsity won Game 1 25-15 and took Game 2 25-14. Brooke Barrett and Brandi Tillman had five aces each to lead Atkins. Jonni Brinkley added two aces, and Haylee Peak had two kills.

The Lady Red Devils will compete in their first conference game of the season Thursday at Nemo Vista. The team will have its home opener at 5 p.m. Sept. 11 against St. Joseph Conway.